LEGO stickers under fire for 'street harassment' construction worker

LEGO has made headlines before for what some call gender stereotyping. But now, stickers from the company are said to promote street harassment.

The stickers are part of the a construction-themed set, which feature a LEGO minifigure dressed as a construction worker with the words 'Hey, babe!' underneath.

According to the Huffington Post, father of two Josh Stearns, the Free Press's Journalism and Public Media Campaign Director, found the stickers offensive when he came across them.

He posted a complaint on his Tumblr blog saying: "Maybe it’s the fact that I just saw the team at Hollaback speak this month, or maybe it is that this is Sexual Assault Awareness Month , or maybe it is just that street harassment sucks. But chances are it was all three of these things that made me so mad to see a brand I love pushing this sort of thing."

He also said he did not purchase the stickers.

Stearns then posted two emails he received in response to his complaints from LEGO representatives.

The first was from Charlotte Simonsen, Head of Corporate Communications, saying: "To communicate the LEGO experience to children we typically use humor and we are sorry that you were unhappy with the way a minifigure was portrayed here."

She said the stickers were discontinued in 2010.

A second email from Andrea Ryder who is the leader of the company's Outbound Licensing Department said: ""truly sorry that [he] had a negative experience with one of our products," and explains: "[T]he product is no longer available and we would not approve such a product again."

The sticker set is still listed on Amazon, but isn't available to buy.

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